Established Artist Recognition Award Winners 2016

Bonnie Baker

Bonnie Baker studied printmaking at NSCAD before focusing on a textile based work to complement her on-going drawing and printmaking and installation practice. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Her work is held in both public and private collections including the Nova Scotia Art Bank, the Royal Bank, and the Économusée in Montreal. She is also an arts advocate, juror, and has served in many capacities in several organizations which promote the arts in Nova Scotia and Canada throughout her career.

François Gaudet

Photo: Emilio Portal

François Gaudet’s work is unapologetic, gritty, and often obtuse because such is the material of his experience. He has consistently followed instinct, pushed and prodded the often times rigid expressions of the Acadian nation and identity to re-create it. François‘s visual narratives, in whatever media used, seeks to re-write, to re-work a grand narrative answering to his complex experience of identity. His work goes beyond the confessional or the fledgling self-reflecting obsession we, as a western society are presently dealing with. In each creative phase of his career, François’s aim and motivation has been generosity. He has and continues to propose characters to make space for – to invite others into his mythology.

Christian Murray

Christian Murray is an actor/physical comedian, a Gemini Award winning writer and director who has based his entire life in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is a founding member of Jest in Time Theatre and a protégé of physical theatre and mime master/director Tony Montanaro. Christian continues his work as a freelance actor, writer, and teacher; he is a Crake Fellow (Mount Allison University), and the recipient of the Merit Award for Lifetime Achievement from Theatre Nova Scotia.

Jacinte Armstrong

Photo: Rhonda Baker, Artwork: Leya Evelyn

Jacinte Armstrong is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, mentor, and artistic director. Jacinte is a complete artist who works tirelessly on a multitude of levels including her own creations and her creative process as well as for others. She has worked interpreting choreographies with Mocean Dance and other regional and national companies, and worked in collaborations with artists of other disciplines in a wide variety of creative projects. She has lead both Verve Mwendo and SiNS and, more recently, as Artistic Director of Kinetic Studio.

Mark Hopkins

Mark Hopkins is committed to the creation and performance of new and improvised music. He is Vice-President of the Acadia New Music Society and co-director of the “Shattering the Silence” new music festival, sits on the board of Musicfest Canada, and is the resident conductor of the Wired ensemble. He has served as guest or resident conductor of wind bands and chamber music ensembles, including the prestigious Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble, and the Marine Forces Atlantic Stadacona Band.